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Thursday 30 June 2016

Sand Crab Dressed in Coconut on Papadoms

I like picking over crab but if I were short on time I would just buy it. Once you've got the crab meat, it is a ten minute job. Dress the crab, fry the sweet potato chips, cook/puff papadoms, top with tasty stuff and tuck in.

1 or 2 sand crabs picked or 200gms bought meat
2 tbs coconut milk
Juice of half a lime
Splash of teriyaki sauce
Sesame oil
Coriander
Chilli
1 cup of thinly sliced sweet potato
10 or 12 papadoms

Deep fry the sweet potato in batch until coloured and crispy. Carefully fold the crab meat in half of the coconut milk, lime juice, a little teriyaki, a little sesame oil and some chopped coriander. Cook the papadoms in the microwave in batches (usually about 45 seconds or there abouts).
Place the crab on a poppadom, some more coriander, chilli slices and a squeeze of lime.


Oven Roasted Cherry Tomato and Prawn Pasta with Chilli

Wow first recipe of the year.
I have been refining this one for a while, it is basic and quick with few ingredients. I sometimes mix it up by adding some blue cheese when I am warming the sauce through. If I were cooking this for adults only I would fry the chilli when cooking the prawns with some garlic. Using green prawns will produce a better flavour in the sauce but either way it is gooood. It's a crowd pleaser, enjoy.


400gms prawns, shelled - heads reserved
1 1/2 punnets cherry tomatoes quartered
1 onion sliced and  broken up
2 tsp sugar
6 cloves garlic sliced
Handful of parsely leaves
A handful of basil leaves
One bay leaf
A splash of white wine
Lemon wedges for serving
Extra virgin olive oil
1 cup pasta water reserved for the sauce
I packet of pasta
Grilled prosciutto
Sliced chilli
Parmessan
Salt and pepper

Combine the prawns heads with the sliced onion, 4 cloves worth of sliced garlic, cherry tomatoes, salt and pepper, the sugar, half of the parsely, the bay leaf and enough extra virgin to coat. Roast at 180C for about 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Roast it until some of the onions and tomatoes have a little char. Discard the prawn heads and bay leaf and blend tomato mixture in a food processor with half of the basil, a squeeze of lemon and a good hit of extra virgin. Refrigerate until ready.
Cook the pasta.
While the pasta is cooking, fry the remaining garlic in some more extra virgin until fragrant then toss through the prawns. Remove the prawns and set aside, deglaze the pan with the white wine then pour in your prepared tomato sauce to the frying pan. While warming, thinly slice the remaining basil then incorporate into the sauce. When ready, reduce the heat to low and wait for the pasta to finish cooking. When the pasta is done pour a cup of pasta water into your tomato sauce and stir to combine.
Toss the pasta through the sauce, bung into bowls, place prawns on top, sprinkle over some freshly grated Parmessan, crispy prosciutto, parsley, a little lemon, salt and pepper, chilli and a little more extra virgin.
Serve with crusty bread.